Hebrew word · H5716

עֲדִי

'edi

ornament

Jewelry, ornaments, finery: the rings, bracelets, necklaces and bands a woman wore. In use it carries honour, wealth, festivity and status. Putting it on marks joy and celebration. Stripping it off marks mourning or humiliation.

Appears 14 times in 13 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) ornaments

1a) ornaments

1b) trappings (of horses)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 49:18

Range of meaning

Jewelry, ornaments, finery: the rings, bracelets, necklaces and bands a woman wore. In use it carries honour, wealth, festivity and status. Putting it on marks joy and celebration. Stripping it off marks mourning or humiliation.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'ornament' can sound like a small decoration or knick-knack today. BSB 'jewelry' is closer. The Hebrew is about a woman's whole display of finery, her visible honour.

How it drifted

'Ornament' has narrowed in modern English toward decorative objects (Christmas ornaments, garden ornaments) and lost its older sense of personal adornment and splendour.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 33:4–6: Israel strips off its 'adi in mourning after the golden calf. 2 Sam 1:24: Saul 'put ornaments of gold on your clothing'. Jer 2:32: 'Can a virgin forget her ornaments ('edyah), a bride her sashes?' Jer 4:30; Ezek 16:11 ('I adorned you with ornaments'), where YHWH dresses Jerusalem as his bride. Ezek 23:40.

From the study of Ezekiel 16:11

Range of meaning

Ornament, jewelry, finery. A general word for personal adornment, especially a woman's; sometimes used for military or royal trappings.

Against the English

"Jewelry" (BSB) is accurate and natural. "Ornaments" (KJV, WEB) is broader and closer to the Hebrew, which is a general word. The pairing "I ornamented you with ornament" is a deliberate emphasis that most English smooths away.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 33:4–6: after the golden calf, Israel is told to take off its ʿădî, and the people strip off their ornaments at Horeb. Jeremiah 2:32: "Can a virgin forget her ornaments (ʿedyāh), a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me." Isaiah 49:18: Zion will wear her returning children 'like an ornament' as a bride does. 2 Samuel 1:24: Saul clothed Israel's daughters with ornaments of gold.

From the study of Psalm 103:5

Range of meaning

Everywhere it can be checked, ʿadi means ornaments or finery: the jewellery Israel stripped off at Horeb (Exod 33:4–6), a woman's gold ornaments (Jer 4:30; 2 Sam 1:24), the bridal jewellery God put on Jerusalem (Ezek 16:11), and a bride's ornaments (Isa 49:18; Jer 2:32). The related verb ʿadah means 'to adorn oneself.' Ps 32:9 is a second puzzling case, where ʿedyo is used of a horse or mule and is often taken as 'its trappings' (bit and bridle). It was later taken as 'its mouth / jaw'.

Against the English

No major English version renders it 'ornament' here. KJV has 'mouth', NIV and WEB 'desires/desire', NASB 'years', RSV/NRSV 'as long as you live', and BSB and ESV simply 'you'. Each of these is an interpretation of an uncertain word, not a straight translation.

How it drifted

Translators were not drifting. The phrase 'who satisfies your ornament with good' seemed to make no sense, so each tradition reached for a reading that did. The result is that English readers meet a confident word ('desire', 'mouth') where the Hebrew is genuinely obscure.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint (Ps 102:5) has τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν σου, 'your desire', and the Gallican Latin Psalter follows it with 'desiderium tuum'. Jerome's later Latin version made directly from the Hebrew is generally reported to read 'ornamentum tuum', 'your ornament', keeping the usual sense. The Aramaic Targum is reported to paraphrase it toward 'the days of your old age.' Medieval Jewish interpreters linked it to Ps 32:9 and took it as 'mouth / jaws', and the KJV adopted that sense.

Where it appears

Exodus · 3

  1. Exodus 33:4 עֶדְי֖וֹ ornament[s] his

    When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning, and no one put on any of his jewelry.

  2. Exodus 33:5 עֶדְיְךָ֙ ornament[s] your

    For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I should go with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.’”

    Here: Personal adornment: jewelry and festive finery that marked joy, wealth and status. Grammatically it is a collective singular, 'your adornment'.

  3. Exodus 33:6 עֶדְיָ֖ם ornament[s] their

    So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 1:24 עֲדִ֣י ornament[s] of

    O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 32:9 עֶדְי֣וֹ trapping[s] its

    Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.

    Here: Literally 'its ornament', probably meaning 'its trappings' (the decorated harness), though ancient and modern translators have also read 'its jaw/mouth' or 'its spirit/temper'. However it is read, the point is that the animal has to be held by equipment, not by understanding.

  2. Psalm 103:5 עֶדְיֵ֑ךְ ornament[s] your

    who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

    Here: This is the hardest word in the verse. Elsewhere ʿadi means jewellery or finery (Exod 33:4–6; Jer 4:30; Ezek 16:11). Here it is the thing God 'fills with good'. Readings include 'your adornment' (perhaps your glory, your very self), 'your desire' (the Greek), 'your mouth' (KJV), and 'your years / as long as you live' (a proposed correction). The word 'your' is feminine because the psalmist is speaking to his own soul (nefesh, a feminine noun), as in v.1–2.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 49:18 כָּעֲדִ֣י like <the> ornament[s]

    Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride.

    Here: 'Like the ornament(s).' Jewelry and finery, the things a woman put on for festivals and took off in mourning. Her children will be her jewels.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 2:32 עֶדְיָ֔הּ ornament[s] her

    Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.

    Here: The singular stands for her jewelry as a whole: rings, bracelets, necklaces. Prized pieces, often gifts or family wealth, that a woman wore for display and kept safe.

  2. Jeremiah 4:30 עֲדִי־ ornament[s] of

    And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.

    Here: Jewelry such as necklaces, rings and bands, the same vocabulary used for the adulterous wife in Hosea 2:13 and Ezekiel 16:11 and 23:40.

Ezekiel · 5

  1. Ezekiel 7:20 עֶדְיוֹ֙ ornament[s] its

    His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.

    Here: Jewellery or finery, here the silver and gold of v. 19 worked into adornment. 'His' is most likely Israel spoken of as one person. It may also point to the finery God himself gave Jerusalem (16:11, same word).

  2. Ezekiel 16:7 בַּעֲדִ֣י עֲדָיִ֑ים into adornment, ornaments

    I made you thrive like a plant of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

    Here: 'Into the ornament of…'. The word normally means jewellery or finery. Here it is paired with its own plural to make a superlative.

  3. Ezekiel 16:11 עֶ֑דִי ornament[s]

    I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.

    Here: The noun comes from the same root as the verb before it: literally "I ornamented you with ornament." The doubling stresses how lavish the gift was. Singular in form, it covers jewelry in general, and the rest of the verse and v. 12 then list the pieces.

  4. Ezekiel 23:40 עֶֽדִי׃ ornament[s]

    Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.

    Here: 'Ornaments', meaning jewelry and finery. It is the same word Ezekiel uses in 16:11 for the jewelry God himself put on Jerusalem. In this verse she wears it for others.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.